Who's investing in Egypt? A look at economic trends following the revolution [Report]

While Egypt's economy has struggled ever since the revolution, its technological revolution is proceeding, according to a recent report, “Egypt in Figures,” issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

With growth in web and mobile penetration as means of communication, investment is increasing, despite the revolution, especially from Europe, the Arab world, India, and China:

From 2011 to 2012, following the revolution, the European Union invested more than any other region, a total of US $9,501.9 million, which accounted for 80.7% of Egypt's foreign investment. This was up from US $6,107.4 million dollars (63.8% of Egypt's foreign investment) the previous fiscal year.

During the same time period, U.S. direct investmentfell by two-thirds, from US $1,790.5 million in 2010-2011 (18.7% of Egypt's foreign direct investment) to US $577.6 million dollars by 2011-2012 (4.9% of FDI).

Direct investment from the Arab world increased during this time period. Investment from the United Arab Emirates increased by almost 40%, Bahrain by 153%, Lebanon by 166%, Jordan by 240%, Saudi Arabia by 15% and Kuwait by 8%.

However, on the whole, investment from the Arab world remains only a small percentage of Egypt's FDI, compared to that from the E.U.

Qatari and Turkish investments fell, however, by nearly 80% and 60%, respectively.

Chinese and Indian investments increased by nearly 53% and 160% respectively.

Despite the media and political uproar about the American support of the Egyptian economy after the revolution, the U.K. remains the largest foreign investor in Egypt, with an estimated total investment of $30 billion.

Newly established companies depend heavily on Egyptian capital which represents 84.18% of all investments compared to Arab and foreign capital that stood at 9.77% & 6.05%. In larger investment rounds, foreign investments jump to 22.3% while investment from the Arab world slightly increases to 10.4%, woth Egyptian capital decreasing to 67.3%.

The top five sources of foreign investment in Egypt from 2011-2012 were:

U.K.: $5,819.7 million (49.5% of Egypt's FDI),

Belgium: $2,089.2 million (17.8%),

U.S.: $577.6 million (4.9%),

UAE: $559.8 million (4.8%),

Holland: $409.4 million (3.5%).

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Hanan Solayman is a freelance journalist and founder of “El Mandara”, a local news portal in Egypt. She studied Entrepreneurial Journalism at the City University of New York. You can connect with her via e-mail at hanan@mandaraonline.com or on Twitter @hananzaz.